Wednesday, May 28, 2008

How about them Cowboys?

Only in Texas.

Take a look.



Losing the peace

Years ago a wise man asked me what I enjoyed about playing poker.

"Winning!" I immediately replied. "Winning what?" he asked. "Money? Well, that doesn't happen all the time. Socializing with people? Some are bums you wouldn't be seen with. Killing time? Now that would be a true waste..."

I walked away with a headache and a grumpy feeling that I had learned something if I could just understand it.

Years later I understood that to win something we must know what it is we want to win, be it money, entertainment or a war.

The war I refer to is the War On Terror. Some have called it WWIV. Some have called it a cultural war... But few have defined what it is we want to win.

If you want to define winning peace, well peace is an absence of war. All we have to do is give up and we will have "won." So don't we need a better definition of what we want from the billions spent and thousands dead?? And if we achieve peace in which our culture and laws are changed to accommodate a religion and culture that we do not agree with, is that a "win?" Haven't we actually lost?

These thoughts came to me after I had read this piece in the WSJ, "Homeland Security Newspeak."


In "1984," George Orwell famously created Newspeak, "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year." How things haven't changed. The Homeland Security memo begins by declaring that "Words matter," whereupon it proceeds to suggest that some words matter so much it's best not to use them at all. Instead, the memo proposes a "strategic terminology" to dictate the utterances of public officials regarding the so-called Global Struggle.

In the new dispensation, much of which has reportedly been adopted by the State Department, using the word Islamic is out because it potentially "[concedes] the terrorists' claims that they are legitimate adherents of Islam." Use of the word jihad is said to "glamorize terrorism." Islamist – a neutral and broadly accepted term for those who espouse Islam as a political system – is frowned upon because "the general public . . . may not appreciate the academic distinction between Islamism and Islam." Using the word Salafism, the religious variant of Islam espoused by al Qaeda, may have the unfortunate effect of demonizing those Salafists who aren't violent. The term moderate Muslims may include those who aren't religiously observant, and thus offend those Muslims who are. "Mainstream Muslim" is supposedly better.


All of that is past the nonsense line, but consider this. The people they are using to decide the content are various Muslim "leaders."

The inanity here is so mind-boggling that it seems almost deliberate, and causes one to wonder just which "American Muslim leaders" the U.S. government is consulting. Last October, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was a guest of honor at a Ramadan event at which, according to one participant, he was publicly thanked by the president of the Islamic Society of North America for "keeping the doors open so we can advise you on how to engage the Muslim world."

For the record, the ISNA was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the case of the Holy Land Foundation, a U.S.-based charity alleged to have had ties with Hamas. Imagine if the Kennedy administration had consulted with the Workers World Party on strategies to contain the Soviet Union, and you get a sense of what Homeland Security is doing today.


So what are fighting for if we are not to change the opposition? If it is to have Islamic schools paid for with tax payer dollars, why treble the cost by opposing al-Qaida? If it is to not disapprove "honor killings," why even claim that we are a secular society?

An ironic saying that I heard for years was, "America has never lost a war or won a peace."

It looks like we are on track to set a new record.



More humor

My thanks to Billy F!

The inventor of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Arthur Davidson, died and went to Heaven. At the gates, St. Peter told Arthur, "Since you've been such a good man and your motorcycles have changed the world, your reward is that you can hang out with anyone you want to in heaven."

Arthur thought about it for a minute and then said, "I want to hang out with God."
St. Peter took Arthur to the Throne Room, and introduced him to God. God recognized Arthur and commented, "Okay, so you were the one who Invented the Harley-Davidson motorcycle? "

Arthur said, "Yeah, that's me..."

God answered: "Well, what's the big deal in inventing something that's pretty unstable, makes noise and pollution and can't run without a road?"

Arthur was apparently embarrassed, but finally spoke, "Excuse me, but aren't you the inventor of woman?"

God said, " Ah, yes."

"Well ," said Arthur, "professional to professional, you have some major design flaws in your invention:

1. There's too much inconsistency in the front-end protrusion

2. It chatters constantly at high speeds

3. Most rear ends are too soft and wobble too much

4. The intake is placed way too close to the exhaust

5. The maintenance costs are outrageous!!!!

"Hmmmmm, you may have some good points there," replied God, "hold on."
God went to his Celestial supercomputer, typed in a few words and waited for the results. The computer printed out a slip of paper and God read it.

"Well, it may be true that my invention is flawed," God said to Arthur, "but according
to these numbers, more men are riding my invention than yours."






Humor Time

Maybe you've seen these, maybe not. My thanks to Jimmy!

Questions and Answers from an AARP Forum


Q: Where can men over the age of 60 find younger, sexy women who are interested in them?
A: Try a bookstore-------under fiction.


Q: What can a man do while his wife is going through menopause?
A: Keep busy. If you're handy with tools, you can finish the basement. When you are done you will have a place to live.


Q: Someone has told me that menopause is mentioned in the Bible. Is that true? Where can it be found?
A: Yes. Matthew 14:92: "And Mary rode Joseph's ass all the way to Egypt."


Q: How can you increase the heart rate of your 60+ year old husband?
A: Tell him you're pregnant.


Q: How can you avoid that terrible curse of the elderly-----wrinkles?
A: Take off your glasses


Q: Seriously! What can I do for these crow's feet and all those wrinkles on my face?
A: Go braless. It will usually pull them out.


Q: Why should 60+ year old people use valet parking?
A: Valets don't forget where they park your car.


Q: Is it common for 60+ year olds to have problems with short term memory storage?
A: Storing memory is not a problem, retrieving it is a problem.


Q: As people age, do they sleep more soundly?
A: Yes, but usually in the afternoon.


Q: Where should 60+ year olds look for eye glasses?
A: On their foreheads.


Q: What is the most common remark made by 60+ year olds when they enter antique stores?
A: "Gosh, I remember these.


Well, they are funny until you realize they are too close to being true.




You are who you associate with

William Katz, who remains one of the best writers in the blogosphere, notes the following in Snippets in his blog, Urgent Agenda. and asks an important question.

"I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz..."

The Obama campaign later said that the candidate meant Buchenwald. I wonder how you get things like that mixed up.


The answer is pretty simple. First, the schools he attended didn't teach much about WWII outside of condemning the US for ending it with nuclear attacks.

So the events are really fuzzy in his mind, mixed in with claims that they never happened and the various condemnations of Israel.

His confusion is a cultural thing. Just as he didn't understand that as President his refusal to wear a US flag pin would insult millions of Americans who are represented by him, and send the wrong message to our enemies.

Who you associate with counts. If you associate with William Ayers and the Rev. Wright, that's a clear signal that, at best, you have no real problems with what they say.



Hussein corrects mistake.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama admitted on Tuesday he was wrong to say his uncle helped liberate the Nazis' Auschwitz concentration camp after Republicans said Soviet troops freed the camp.

Obama's campaign said the candidate meant to say that his great-uncle, Charlie Payne, had helped liberate a part of the Buchenwald camp, not Auschwitz.


Okay, he misspoke. Again.

But the real issue is.... so what? He had an Uncle in WWII?

Wow. That settles the patriotism issue for me. Yessir. No doubt.

Why the sacrifices Hussein must have gone through for the country...

Oh.... Yeah... It was his Uncle who sacrificed...I wonder if he ever heard of the Sullivan brothers....

Link



Gore won't debate this guy

because the guy would clean his clock.

Klaus, an economist, said he opposed the "climate alarmism" perpetuated by environmentalism trying to impose their ideals, comparing it to the decades of communist rule he experienced growing up in Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia.

"Like their (communist) predecessors, they will be certain that they have the right to sacrifice man and his freedom to make their idea reality," he said.

"In the past, it was in the name of the Marxists or of the proletariat - this time, in the name of the planet," he added.


Of course they will. Being elite they know that they have the answers and that any who disagrees must be suppressed.

Nothing new in that, but it is nice to see someone who has experienced the actual domination of a fales religion pointing it out.